Nonprofit Board Academy

10/14/2026

📢 Ontario Nonprofits: Keep an Eye on Proposed Audit-Threshold Changes

Ontario’s proposed regulatory changes under the Not-for-Profit Corporations Act (ONCA) include a potential increase to the audit threshold to $1 million.

What should nonprofit boards do now?

✔️ Monitor updates for a final regulation and confirmed effective date.
✔️ Watch for implementation guidance to understand what the changes could mean for your organization.
✔️ Continue following current requirements until the proposed changes are finalized.

Important: The proposed $1 million threshold is not yet law. Boards should avoid making compliance decisions based on the proposal alone.

Stay informed and be prepared to adapt as Ontario’s regulatory landscape evolves.

🔗 Learn more:
https://www.cccc.org/news_blogs/legal/2026/07/proposed-regulatory-changes-for-ontario-not-for-profits/
https://theonn.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/ONN-Submission-ONCA-Consultation-August-2026.pdf

10/08/2026

We’re just one week away from our next Collaboration Corner!

AI is becoming part of everyday conversations in organizations—but what does that mean for nonprofit boards and governance?

Join us for a free, one-hour Collaboration Corner session where we’ll explore Using AI in Governance and look at some of the key considerations boards need to keep in mind.

📅 Date: Wednesday, October 14, 2026
⏰ Time: 1:00 PM ET / 10:00 AM PT / 2:00 PM AT
📍 Location: Online via Zoom

During the session, we’ll explore:
✅ How AI is changing the governance conversation
✅ Questions boards should be asking about AI
✅ Responsible AI use and governance considerations
✅ Practical ways to approach AI discussions at the board table

Whether your organization is already using AI or you're just starting to explore it, this conversation will give you an opportunity to learn, ask questions, and hear from others in the nonprofit sector.

🎟️ Live participation is FREE!

Haven’t registered yet? Reserve your spot today:
canadian-nonprofitacademy.com/collaboration-corner

09/20/2026

🎉 Collaboration Corner is BACK!

After a break, we’re excited to bring nonprofit leaders and board members together again for practical conversations about governance, leadership and building stronger organizations.

📅 One Wednesday a month
🕐 1:00 p.m. ET | 10:00 a.m. PT | 2:00 p.m. AT
💻 Live on Zoom
🎟️ FREE to attend

Our upcoming sessions cover topics including:

🤖 Using AI in Governance
📊 Reading Financial Statements
👥 Moving from a Working Board to a Governing Board
💡 Generative Governance
📋 Rules of Order
💬 Plus, open Q&A sessions about governance

The first session is October 14, 2026, and we’ll be meeting monthly through June 2027.

👉 Save your spot and register:
canadian-nonprofitacademy.com/collaboration-corner

09/14/2026

Before you dive into fall planning, take a closer look at your board.

New directors. New priorities. New budgets. Leadership transitions.

Fall is a natural reset point—but it's also a time when gaps in governance and institutional memory can become more obvious.

Ask yourself:

Does our board understand why we do things the way we do?
Are board, staff, and AMC roles clear?
Are concerns being raised as questions—or quietly becoming conclusions?
Are we intentionally passing institutional knowledge from one board to the next?

Good governance isn't a one-time orientation. It's an ongoing practice.

Christina Becker's latest article explores how to recognize the early warning signs of relationship breakdown—and how boards and AMCs can address them before small concerns become bigger problems.

📖 Read the full article: https://canadiannonprofitacademy.substack.com/p/wrapping-up-summer-with-a-governance

As summer winds down and organizations begin shifting into fall planning, board meetings, budgeting, leadership transitions, and year-end priorities move back to the forefront.

09/09/2026

Is your board relationship as healthy as you think it is?

An RFP rarely appears out of nowhere.

Long before an AMC-board relationship reaches the point of reassessing the partnership, there are often subtle warning signs:

• Questions become more transactional.
• Curiosity turns into comparison.
• Engagement starts to drop.
• Concerns are discussed internally—but not openly.
• Institutional knowledge begins to disappear with board turnover.

As organizations head into fall planning, now is a good time to step back and ask:

Are you strengthening the relationship—or simply managing the symptoms?

Christina Becker explored these early warning signs at the AMCI Engaged Conference in Wisconsin and shares what boards and AMCs can do before uncertainty becomes distrust.

👉 Read the full article: https://canadiannonprofitacademy.substack.com/p/wrapping-up-summer-with-a-governance

https://chatgpt.com/c/6a9f2dbf-7cf8-83e8-ae23-6ecc4c6e0b7c #:~:text=%23NonprofitGovernance%20%23BoardGovernance%20%23NonprofitLeadership%20%23BoardDevelopment%20%23AssociationManagement

As summer winds down and organizations begin shifting into fall planning, board meetings, budgeting, leadership transitions, and year-end priorities move back to the forefront.

09/08/2026

Board chair training is not the same as changing how a chair leads.

The growing number of board-chair development programs is a positive sign for Canadian nonprofits.

But there's an important distinction between learning about leadership and changing leadership practice.

That's where CNPA has an opportunity to go deeper.

Rather than positioning its board-chair program simply as another peer group or intensive learning event, CNPA can focus on the transfer from learning to practice.

Think:

→ A 90-day transfer-to-practice system
→ Between-session fieldwork
→ Confidential case consultation
→ Real board challenges brought into the learning
→ Measurable changes in meeting leadership

Because the real test isn't whether a board chair enjoyed the training.

It's whether six weeks later, they're:

Leading better conversations.
Creating better board culture.
Handling difficult situations differently.
And making their board meetings more effective.

That's the difference between a learning experience and a guided behaviour-change process.

And for board chairs, that difference matters.

09/08/2026

Nonprofit boards: You don’t have to wait for legislation to get organized.

Proposed federal reporting changes could mean greater reporting obligations for many non-charitable nonprofits.

While the legislation is not yet finalized, now is a good time to ask:

✔️ Are our governing documents current?

✔️ Do we have accurate director and officer records?

✔️ Can we clearly describe our activities?

✔️ Are our receipts, assets and liabilities properly tracked?

✔️ Does everyone know who is responsible for filing?

Good governance isn’t about scrambling to comply at the last minute.

It’s about having the records, systems and accountability in place before you need them.

The proposed changes may create new reporting requirements—but they also highlight something every nonprofit board should already be doing:

Know your organization. Know your records. Know your responsibilities.

09/03/2026

If AI can act on behalf of your organization, who is accountable for what it does?

That’s becoming an important governance question for nonprofit boards.

The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security’s recent work with multi-agent AI demonstrates what’s possible when AI systems generate, test and review operational outputs—with human oversight still built into the process.

For boards, the lesson goes beyond cybersecurity.

When AI is delegated meaningful work, boards should understand:

🔹 What can the AI access?
🔹 What decisions can it make?
🔹 What requires human approval?
🔹 How is its work tested and documented?
🔹 What happens when something goes wrong?
🔹 Who remains accountable?

One useful way to think about AI delegation is:

Assist → Recommend → Act with Approval → Act Autonomously

The question for boards isn’t simply “Should we use AI?”

It’s:

“What are we willing to delegate to AI—and what oversight must remain human?”

That’s a governance question.

09/02/2026

Board chair development is becoming more specialized — and more practical.

The bigger shift is worth paying attention to.

Board leadership development is moving beyond one-time governance orientation toward peer learning, applied practice, and role-specific development.

That matters because being a board chair isn't just about understanding governance.

It's about knowing how to lead the room.

How to navigate difficult conversations.

How to build a healthy board culture.

And how to work effectively with the CEO while keeping the board in its proper role.

For Canadian nonprofits, the question increasingly isn't “Have our board members received governance training?”

It's:

“Are our board leaders actually equipped to lead?”

09/01/2026

AI isn’t just answering questions anymore. It’s starting to do the work.

The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security recently shared a case study demonstrating a multi-agent AI workflow that turned public threat intelligence into tested cybersecurity detection rules.

Different AI agents handled generation and adversarial review, completing work that could take hours or days in under an hour.

But there was an important safeguard:

Humans remained in the loop.

Analysts reviewed the results, and operational approval was still required before deployment.

The test ultimately produced eight new production detection rules.

For nonprofit leaders, this is an important shift to pay attention to.

AI is moving from “help me do this” toward “do this, check this, and prepare it for action.”

That changes the governance conversation.